Behind the waterfall

Here we are back again in Southern Ohio. We landed at LAX then took the connection flight to CMH and we arrived at 10 EST. Dave’s mom and grandma came picking us up at the airport and then we decided to go to the Conservatory Park to see the butterflies and then had lunch. We were so exhausted and sleepy.

It’s almost three weeks since we came back from our first family trip and still we haven’t done unpacking! How crazy is that? Plus… some things we left behind that we didn’t have any change to put them back where they were belong before we left for Indonesia.

Another adventures we had this week. We had a big whole family vacation, went out of Jakarta to Puncak for 2 days. Can you imagine we pack 8 adults and 2 babies in one van (this is Indonesian size van) and of course plus baby gears and bags. Yes! a full car for more than 2 hours driving to Puncak because of the long holiday traffic. We (Dave and I) didn’t know that it was a long holiday in Indonesia when we planned the trip! Oh yah Puncak is a place where every one in Jakarta want to get away during the holiday. It is a nice, cooler town with beautiful view where every one from the crowded and smokey city wanna be. Normal day, it only takes about 2 hours to be there (of course still have some traffic jammed because of the local public transportation).

Finally after a long time being in the car, we arrived at the hotel that booked by Joe (remember, Sella’s boyfriend?). It was a little bit passed after 12 noon and we were all tired and hungry. After checking in to the rooms, unloading all the stuff, we went out for the adventure! We planned to go see the seven water falls and had lunch there. But when we got there it started to rain and it was a hard one. We took shelter at one of the “Warung” (a small restaurant that sells food, snacks, drinks, but not the fancy one, traditional food, mostly, and cheap – supposed to be cheap – since it’s at a tourism area, you know they raise the prices). We decided to wait there and had lunch there. After an hour waiting, the sky was getting clear, but the visitors were getting crowded and so many people smoking cigarettes. Couldn’t breath the air! Finally, we decided to go back to the hotel because it would be not so much fun.

“What can we do to have fun today?” we asked to each other, and we found out that they had an indoor pool! YAY!! Swimming would be good idea. Then we went to the pool. And…BRRRRRR!! Indoor pool but the water was so cold! It was a huge tub of ice water only we didn’t drink that water. Joe said that we had to tell the hotel manager a while ago if we wanted to go swimming so they could warm the water… hehehehe… wish we knew that few hours before =)
And… splash! Dave and Abigail were in the water, my mom and dad with Callista were sitting at the edge of the pool. Then splash! Sella jumped in, but Joe were cold and sitting at the chair (he was in the pool before we came). Then Windy and Tony jumped in. But my mom and Callista were still sitting at the side of the pool while my dad jumped in and played with Abigail. Talking about Abigail, eventhough she had blue lips and were cold, she didn’t care, she loved it! She had a great time splashing the water and playing with Dave, my Dad, and my sisters.

We ended the day with get together for dinner and watching tv, chatting, and babies were asleep already. It was a good day.

The next day, we checked out aroung 10 in the morning and was planning to go up to the highest peak of that town to enjoy more the view. We stopped at one of the most famous sub-division called “Kota Bunga.” We took a break by taking pictures when we saw good spots. Like you can see at these pictures.

Then we went farther and further to the other town called Cianjur. It’s a town knows by its delicious fresh fish and Sundanese food, too. Then we decided to have our late lunch at one of the restaurant, Saung Kuring. The place had beautiful view of a green hill, rice field around it, and pond full of hugh “Ikan Mas” (gold fish).
Abigails was amazed when she looked at those fish in the pond. Her eyes were wide big opened when she saw them. We had a good time resting and break for a while at that restaurant.

But then we came up with crazier idea. We decided to go up to Bandung which we didn’t plan to go. We just wanted to go and had fun at the mall (again!) then back to Jakarta. But after calling our cousins, they invited us to stay at their house for that night, and had dinner together with other cousins, too. So we did! It was a great to see them and had some time together, catching up things that we didn’t know yet, and let Abigail and Callista were able to meet their cousins, too. The next morning we went to the Strawberry place and had lunch at the Ranch (you can tell from the pictures, below) and then we headed home.

On the way back, we got a phone called from another cousins in Jakarta. They invited us to have dinner at their house. We thought that it was our last week here in Indo, we accepted it. Didn’t know it would be so late when we get to their house. But we had a good visiting and finally we get home around 1 in the morning! Amazing family vacation!

Oh… something happened on the way back from Bandung though. Joe got a phone call from his mom telling that his dad was sick again. They needed to take him to the hospital. We were so worry and prayed for him. Joe also had a meeting. So we dropped him off at the church. He didn’t go to dinner with us. Hope his dad get well, soon!

Wednesday afternoon (after coming back from the trip), we had an invitation to share about Mission and God’s Word at a church of friend of mine, Lili and Ko Chris. It was a church that reaching out Chinese people at the neighborhood. They had Mandarin interpreter for the service. That night was a prayer night for mission and they were praying for all children at risk and how to minister to them. Praise God that God gave us the wisdom and right words to share to the people at the church. Our friends told us that their church had been 20 years praying about mission but about few years ago they started to take action. Praise God for that. God is moving among the people at that church, opening their hearts and understanding what to do to show God’s love to the people around them and to the unreached ones. We were so thankful to be there and shared our vision to our friends, too.

The next day, we paid a visit at the other mission agency which working among the unreached people group and mission mobilization organization through prayer, trainings, conferences and collage students and your people, too. It was a great opportunity for us to be there. We shared about what we has been doing since 2006, and how we did that, and what was the purpose of the ministry to our friends at the office. And they also shared with us what they has been doing and what they are going to do. So much information we got and to think about.

We had full schedule this last week in Indo. Friday was the last day we scheduled to see friends. On that day we arrange a short meeting with friends from SID* at Citos. We were so happy that we were able to see them before we went back to State. They still had some things to do for their work so they couldn’t stay too long, and also, Windy had to go to work that evening, we also needed to go back to Tangerang. Also, this was the last day we did our last shopping for gifts.

What a fruitful and long last week… we had a great family dinner together at one of our favorite restaurants. We were able to see my mom’s brother in law (his wife was my mom older sister. She passed away about 12 years ago). And still we had to finish our packing…

I couldn’t tell what I felt that day… once again… I had to leave my country and most of it… my parents and family again… But I trusted them in God’s hands and protection. Though I couldn’t stop crying but I understood one thing that it had to happen that way and I have a great family, Dave and Abigail. I wanna be with them wherever God send us to go for his glory.

More and more fun we had this week. We were totally recovered from our craziness of adjusting with the time, food and culture. We get used to what is happening around us. Thinking like the local, if I can say that way. But, we are living differently. God is helping us to have more patient with the situations and people. These people that we met (mostly drove us crazy) were not Jesus’ follower. What they did and why they did what they did it was because they didn’t live in God’s salvation, grace and love. Showing love to them is what we have to do, and it’s not easy, but it’s not impossible (Matt. 5:13-16; 5:43-47; 7:1-5; 7:1214).

This week we explored some tourism places. First we went to a place where we could find all houses from every culture and provinces in Ina, and some attractions, too, called “Taman Mini Indonesia Indah.” But too bad that not all displayed house were open on Monday. Not many people, too. But it was a very warm day. We walked from one house display place to the other, those who were tired, sat in the car and followed us… hehehehe… and finally we were tired, too. we drove in the car for the rest of the journey. At the end of visiting, we took the “Gandola”, a hanging cart that went a cross the area and we could see more stuff from the sky, too. Then on the way back, we decided to have our dinner in Bogo*, a city of rain. It was known by its fresh fish and other delicious traditional food of Sundan* people group. The majority of this city is the Cousin.

One of the traditional houses from Sumatra

The first place used by the President (a.k.a. Ina's Air Force One hehehehe)

Helen & Abigail at one of the traditional houses from Kalimantan

Windy and Callista at one of the traditional houses from Sumatra

Then on Thursday, my parents took us to the “Pantai Karang Bolong”. It was about 2 hours driving from their house through the capital city of Banten Province. There were several beaches but it was one of the famous ones. We stopped there only for picture taking. It was too hot to swim and also too many reefs. The location was at the west coast of the island. It was beautiful beach, only one thing that they need to improve, the cleanness. I bet if the visitors don’t care and throw away trash everywhere, in 2 years that place will be the most dirty beach. So sad to see that happened there. The good spot to swim had been taken by big hotels and resorts, and we had to pay to get in. Too bad.

Pantai Karang Bolong (Perforated Reef beach...I think in English)

Ending the week, we celebrated my youngest sister’s graduation. Congratulations, Sella! She finished her 3 years study on Computer Accounting. It was a great blessing for her to be able to study and so thankful for her faithful supporters for all these years. God bless them all. We all so proud of her. She had the graduation ceremony at one of the conference hall in Senayan from 7 in the morning until afternoon. While waiting for Sella, mom and dad, we (Windy, Tony, Callista, Dave, Abigail and I, of course) were taking Callista to her doctor to get her shots, then we went to the mall where we all would meet each other to have a little family dinner to celebrate Sella’s graduation. Before the dinner, we took a whole big family pictures at a photo studio. It was a very good time because all of us were together at the same time and the same place. So thankful for the very wonderful and fruitful week we had.

Congratulations, Sella!

The whole family

And the journey goes on…

Dave and Abigail had a rough weekend at the first week because of the jet lag. Started the new new we all have recovered from it. Abigail was able to eat little by little, started with Wendy’s chicken nuggets and french fries, and finally we found her formula, even though she’s taking whole milk (we couldn’t find the same whole milk in Indo). Dave was able to eat as usual again. I thought that I would never experience culture shock while I was here, but I did experience it. Things that I knew were changed, people, traffic, transportations, manners and attitude, even politeness of the people that we met at malls or any places was unpredictable. Shocked but I had to adjust myself to all the changes.

Some questions came up in my mind, “Can I handle the changes if we move back here for a long term?”, “Is it possible for me (and of course my husband and daughter) to have more patient with these people?”, “What would we do to show God’s love and be the light to these people with their rudeness?” and more and more questions that I was afraid to answer them. I only hope and pray that God is the one that enable us, empower us with his Holy Spirit to be here and to be more patient about all what we experienced so far and will experience tomorrow as long as we are here. And may be for the long term ministry in the future. If I had to do it by my own strength, I will be fail.

This week, we had a great time to visit my family and spending time with them all. This week we were invited by Windy’s parents-in-law (Tony’s parents and family) and Sella’s boyfriend’s – Joe – parents for dinners. How’s about that to experience the authentic Indonesian food? They were all very nice and friendly. We were so glad to see them, and so did they.

Apo and Abigail

Akung and Abigail

We went to one of the most favorite water park in the city, Ancol/Atlantic City. It was so crowded! We all had a blast day swimming, taking the babies playing in the baby pool, and I was so glad to see my dad and mom were able to had a good time and quality time with their grandchildren, and even they can enjoy the time and relaxing. There was big swimming pool that every hour they will have the “fake wave” and every one would jump into that pool. Also, there was a pool that went around some pools and had rapid water, we didn’t have to swim to move on, the rapid water would take you. There were some other pools with various water attractions that designed to give so much fun for every one. We were there since noon until about 6 in the evening. Time passed so fast when we had fun time. On the way back, we caught into the heavy traffic of the city. We spent about 2 hours to get out of the traffic. While waiting, I saw a sign. It was so funny because the sign telling people cannot sell things along the streets or sidewalks, but there were a bunch of people selling stuff as known as “Kaki Lima”.

After swimming...hungry and tired

Cannot Sell Anything Along the Street... but...

We also were able to spend time together and catching up stories with some of my friends. We all went to the Atma Jaya Catholic University and studied the same major at Education Faculty, majoring in English. They were my close friends while I was studying there, and they are still my close friends! We spent time together, talking and talking, and had dinned together. And of course, taking pictures! I was the last one who graduated from the school because I took 2 years off from my study and by God’s grace and blessing I could finish it in 2007. Praise the Lord!

left-right: Lulu, Eva, Josevin, Helen, Ivonne, Hanny

Here are the husbands: Ferry (Ivonne's), Dave (of course mine..hehehe) and A Hon (Lulu's)

and the children: Monik (Ferry&Ivonne's), Callista (my sister's), Christy (A Hon&Lulu's) and Abigail (ours)

On Sunday, we visited the church that my sister Sella works at. It is called Christ Cathedral and is nothing short of a miracle. The city we were in is called Tangerang, and while part of the megacity of Jakarta, it is actually a separate city and the capital of the province Banten. Banten was the site of one of the early Sultanates in what is now Indo and has since then been consistently and staunchly aligned with the majority religion. However, not only was the church granted legal building permits to construct their place of worship (which is almost unheard of) the governor herself visited the church for its Easter service. How incredible is that? We met the pastor and his wife, who are old friends of me and were able to talk a bit about BT and Disco* Trip program and the needs in Indo.

To be continued…

On our first week and our first stop is Los Angeles. We were blessed so much by God through a family who opened their door for us to stay for 3 nights. John and Shevawn oversee the Disco* program with WBT in the US and they lead the team to one country in Africa every year. It was good to get to know them better and share some of our heart for Indo and things we have experienced and ideas for the future. They were wonderful hosts, supportive, encouraging and a lot of fun. While we were there, we would like to introduce Abigail to the beach, but unfortunately that was a wrong day to go to beach. It was so cold and windy! But, we still had fun walking along the beach (covered with jacket and hat of course) and enjoyed the view from the pier. So cool and cold! ^_^

Beside John and Shevawn, we went to Biola University to see some of our friends. They were Lloyd, Nancy and Kristine. We spent most of the day with them, ate lunch from that school cafe, and catching up everything that we missed for almost 2 years! And hey, we made new friends that introduced by Lloyd and Kristine, both were Indonesian! How cool is that?! Then we went to our other friend’s house who lived not too far from Biola. We met her while we were on Disco trip in 2006 and 2008. Lalani was the M worker in Ina for few years but then she needed to go home for some reasons. She was hoping that she could go back again because she loved the people in the village.

Meeting some of our friends in L.A really encouraged us and also gave us more time to prepare ourselves for the long trip.

While waiting at CMH

THe Huntington Beach Pier

The City View from the Pier

Hey it's us

Shevawn and John

Friends at Biola Univ.:Kristine, Nancy, and Lloyd

Abigail and Dave are having fun while waiting in the line at LAX

Going to L.A. was not a long flight, though we spent half day on to get there. Our next flight was 18 hours plus 1,5 hours transit in Jpn. We lost a day on the way to Ina. So thankful so thankful that Abigail was doing okay on the plane. Even though we experienced many turbulences she didn’t cry or afraid. She didn’t have enough sleep from L.A to Narita because of turbulences and also may be because of the time changes, too. But then from Narita to Singapore she did have about 4 hours sleep and then woke up happy and hungry. We arrived in Singapore in the middle of the night and our next flight to Ina was about 12 hours later. So we went finding the transit hotel and took a rest for about 6 hours. We finally had a little sleep and stretched a bit after sitting for 18 hours. After having some refreshing shower, we checked out and waited for our friend, Norbert, to come and have breakfast together. We were so glad that we could see him even though it was a short one.

Finally we arrived in Indo on May 13th afternoon. We were the last passenger came out because the craziness that we expected at the international airport. So happy and thankful that we finally saw my parents and Abigail was so shy when she was them for the first time. Mom and Dad took Callista, 6 month baby girl, with them. Abigail saw Callista and they started their baby chatting at that moment! So funny!

That first day in Indo, we had to see one of our friends and took her to the airport because she left for her mission field on the evening flight. Still jet lag and tired, we met some people at the KD* office that day and try to get connected in the conversation. So we took Netty to the airport and we had a short catching up story with her. Glad to see her in a short time, too.

We spent the rest of the first week in jet lag and adjusting time, culture and food. We stayed with my parents’ house. My sister, Windy, her husband, Tony and Callista live with them, too. Also, the youngest one, Sella. It’s a full house now.

We had dinner with the family Sunday afternoon celebrating Windy’s birthday and wrapped up the week at my parents, resting a bit to shake off the last of the jet lag.

Hi I'm Abigail...

Abigail, Dave & Callista

Oh baby...baby...